A Court of Inquiry set up to probe the Air India Express mishap in May near Mangalore airport has been told that pilot 'error' led to the tragic mishap killing 158 people.
The data retrieved from the cockpit voice recorder of the ill-fated aircraft has shown that the captain was on the wrong flight path and had also delayed in taking corrective measures despite being requested by his co-pilot for "a go-around".
This was submitted by the officials of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Boeing, which had manufactured the airliner before the six-member Court of Inquiry formed to investigate the mishap.
The two-year-old aircraft had crashed outside Mangalore airport in Karnataka on May 22, killing 158 people when it burst into flames after overshooting a table-top runway and plunged into a nearby forest.
The 2.05 minutes of CVR recording has indicated that despite being warned by the aircraft computers to "pull up, the captain had not paid heed to it.
He also ignored the co-pilot telling him to go-around.
The last few seconds of the recording clearly says "We don't have runway left" after which the CVR has recorded the loud crashing sound.
While deposing before the Court of Inquiry, Boeing officials said that the pilot was not on the right glide path while approaching the Mangalore airport.
He had approached for landing at an angle more than three degrees, which is the standard procedure, the officials submitted.
They also found some anomalies in the captain's way of taking the corrective measures, which could have averted the accident.
